Distracted driving and your phone: It’s not just texting

It’s likely you’ve heard about the dangers of texting and driving. Even if a text only requires a few seconds to read, those few seconds can result in disaster. In the time it takes to read just one text, a car can drive the length of a football field. You’re six times more likely to crash a car by reading just one text.

Forty percent of drivers use social media while driving. One-quarter of them are using Facebook. Fourteen percent are using Twitter, and the same percentage are using Instagram while driving. Additionally, one-third of all drivers check their email while driving.

Is checking your Facebook or Twitter feed or sending an email worth running into someone—and possibly killing them, yourself or both? I think you know the answer.

It’s not just young people

Just as some people think distracted driving is all about texting, many people think teenagers are to blame for cellphone use while driving.

Some studies do say that drivers between the ages of 18 and 29 use cellphones more while driving than any other age group.

But that doesn’t mean other age groups aren’t. Fifty-three percent of parents use cellphones while stopped at a red light. That increases the chance they will continue to use it once the light changes—and 41 percent of parents text while the car is in motion.

Distracting driving is not just texting. Any behavior done on your phone while driving is distracted driving, and all forms cause fatalities and accidents every day. The safety message is clear: Don’t drive distracted.